Proposed by Lisa Paulsen, Director, Playwriting Center, and awarded to Theater Emory, Playwriting Center, Out of Hand Theater, with Ken Weitzman
Inner Ape will be a collaboratively-generated theater piece based on themes discussed in the Evolution Revolution symposium, including primate social behavior. The works focus will be the behavior of chimpanzees and bonobos, the two types of apes with DNA that is nearly identical to human DNA. The work will explore our true nature through our closest relatives in the primate family and new ideas and new questions about power, sex, violence, kindness, and morality. Inner Ape assembles the talents of Ken Weitzman (playwright), Out of Hand Theater (an Atlanta-based, nationally recognized theater company started by Emory alumni), and the Theater Emory (Emory’s theater company comprised of professionals and students). The Playwriting Center of Theater Emory (PWC) will play a principal role in the play’s development.
According to PWC director and grant recipient Lisa Paulsen, the collaborators intend for their completed piece to further the conversations and ideas presented at Evolution Revolution. She says, “We are gaining a profound appreciation of our intricate relationship with other life forms; this piece will bring together scientists, artists, and students as a way to further explore this complexity.”
The playwright, Ken Weitzman, has significant experience with the Joint Stock Method, using interviews and existing research texts to create theater. Out of Hand Theater generates incredible physical theater events, and the PWC is nationally-known for its success in creating a support system for the development of new work for the American theater. The PWC is particularly drawn to projects that require innovation processes and that allow collaboration between professional artists and Emory faculty, staff, students and alumni.
As an ensemble, the collaborators will study writings and research and collect primary research regarding apes. The research, interviews, and videos will be woven directly into what will become a multi-media, multidisciplinary theater event. Further, Out of Hand Theater specializes in a type of ensemble-generated, physical, event-oriented theater. As such they will explore the physical attributes of apes and humans, creating a gestural and corporeal vocabulary for both apes and humans in order to explore points of connection.
February 2-22, 2009, as part of the PWC’s biennial Brave New Works Festival, Inner Ape will receive an extended developmental workshop, culminating in a public reading of the script. Theater Emory and Out of Hand Theater intend a full co-production of the finished script during their 2009-2010 seasons.